As the Red Wings prepare for their 27-game stretch run schedule, the Free Press’s Helene St. James took note of the Red Wings’ emphasis on establishing “good habits” over the course of the team’s 4-day “mini camp”:
Todd McLellan gathered his players and ended practice with an expletive and a plea: Don’t let your habits slip.
It was a reminder to the Detroit Red Wings as they emerge from the 4 Nations Face-Off break that every game matters. Not that players who were around last season should need a reminder: They occupied the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot on Feb. 28, 2024, only to stumble through a seven-game losing streak and eventually miss the playoffs by a tiebreaker. This season’s team has banked 31 points since Christmas to sit in the second wild-card spot as they resume play Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, two weeks after losing at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the last game before the break.
“The value of two points is no different on any game day 82 times a year,” McLellan said Thursday. “And I don’t think players think like that all the time. They can give themselves permission, and then they regret it. I don’t like talking about last year, I wasn’t here — but I know what happened. And yeah — empty net, pull the goalie, not in. But that wasn’t what prevented them from getting in the playoffs. There was a game during the year where they gave themselves permission — you know what, it’s not that important tonight. They played poorly, and it cost them.
“Let’s hope that Tampa game the other night wasn’t our night. And we talk about that a little bit — this could be the night that it really matters.”
Coach McLellan also said that between the Red Wings’ condensed schedule and the NHLPA’s requirement that every team has four days off per month, he’s not certain whether the Wings will have a whole lot of practices left with which to rectify their errors:
“So we already know that no matter what happens, they’re getting those days off,” McLellan said. “Then we look at, OK, we have to travel back from Colorado, we have to travel back from wherever we are — Seattle, we lose a day there. Then we look at back-to-backs and you’re essentially giving players a day off after that just simply because they need it. And all of a sudden you’re left with six good practices. And then you hope that players have their energy levels high, they’re not running on fumes, and you can get something done.
“If you can’t, you have to do it via video, maybe walkthroughs on the ice where they’re not expending energy. But at this time of year, it’s more reactionary than long-term planning.”
Continued; St. James also posted a video of Ben Chiarot and McLellan speaking after Thursday’s practice:
